‘Mask Girl’ Lee Soo-mi “Director Kim Yong-hoon is a benefactor who instilled courage in my acting” [Interview summary]

[TV Report = Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Actress Lee Soo-mi, who played an active role in ‘Mask Girl’, expressed her gratitude to director Kim Yong-hoon.

Lee Soo-mi, who met with TV Report on the morning of the 18th, expressed her feelings about appearing in the work, saying, “I gained courage for the first time through ‘Mask Girl.’ I was healed from the time when I doubted my acting and was anxious.”

Netflix’s original ‘Mask Girl’ depicts the journey of Kim Momi, an ordinary office worker with an appearance complex, who gets caught up in an unintended incident while working as an internet broadcast BJ while covering her face with a mask every night. This is the first OTT directing work of director Kim Yong-hoon, who won the Jury Award at the 49th Rotterdam International Film Festival for her debut feature film ‘Beasts Grasping at Straws’. Three actors, including Go Hyun-jung, Nana, and Lee Han-byul, played Kim Momi.

In the play, Lee Soo-mi plays the role of Ahn Eun-sook, the absolute strongest person in the prison. Ahn Eun-sook is a person who prevents not only the inmates in the prison but also the prison warden from using any power. That’s how powerful she is. Ahn Eun-sook met Lee Soo-mi and her three-dimensional character was born. As expected, Lee Soo-mi not only perfectly executed the visuals that revealed her character’s presence, but also received favorable reviews for her cold acting tone.

Lee Soo-mi said, “Director Kim Yong-hoon’s details were added to create a colorful character. The pink jumpsuit, leopard-print jacket, mustang, and other devices symbolizing Ahn Eun-sook’s power were all the director’s ideas. Did you say clothes are wings? Thanks to this, I became the real Ahn Eun-sook. “I was able to act as if I were a real person,” he said.

He said, “The atmosphere on set was also friendly. The director created an atmosphere where actors could only act. The set was filmed on a hot day, and as soon as the director shouted ‘cut’, the staff handed out several ice bags. This is a scene like this. “It was my first time. More than anything, I felt that he believed in me. When I told the director about my concerns about acting, he said, ‘You can follow your feelings,’”he recalled.

He then expressed his gratitude, saying, “On the day the first filming ended, the director said, ‘You did a great job.’ The same was true on the last day of filming. He said, ‘Thank you for saving Ahn Eun-sook.’ Those words gave me great courage.”

Lee Soo-mi is an experienced actress in the theater world. He debuted in 1996 with ‘Spring of Bel Canto Opera with Jo Sumi’ and appeared in 100 works over 27 years. Lee Soo-mi, who has always been on stage, attempted her first screen acting by playing a small role in the 2018 movie ‘Wrestler’, and gained recognition for her role as Aunt Wang in tvN’s ‘Wise Doctor Life’ in 2021.

Lee Soo-mi said, “I reflected on myself while acting in the media. On stage, I met the public with a rather large role and received attention and love, but when I appeared in dramas and movies, I felt like I was back as a rookie again.”Things I had only known were touched deeply in my heart. Above all, the stage is an art that actors can control. There are many aspects that actors can control according to their capabilities, such as gaze, emotions, voice tone, and angle. But it is not a movie or screen. “At first, it felt like I was acting blindfolded,” he said, expressing his difficulties.

However, he said, “I have solved many tasks while continuing the work, but it is still difficult. I am not lighthearted at the thought that I have to exert all my capabilities, whether on stage or on camera. I have spent 27 years with the mind of an athlete preparing for the Olympics. Amid doubts and anxiety about my acting, I also wondered, ‘What should I do to make the human Soo-mi Lee happy?’ The answer is to act well. (Laughs) If you can’t act, you can’t enjoy life. Ultimately, the human Soo-mi Lee is a person who can’t enjoy life. “The only way to be happy is to act well,” he emphasized.

Lee Soo-mi is planning to meet the public with her next work, ‘I Was Fooled.’ This is a drama that unfolds over four seasons the adventure-filled lives of Ae-suni, a ‘desperate rebel’ and Gwan-sik, a ‘iron-armed boy’ born in Jeju in the 1950s. Singer and actress IU played the role of Ae-soon, and actor Park Bo-gum played the role of Gwan-sik.

Regarding this, Lee Soo-mi said, “I plan to greet you in a different way from ‘Mask Girl’. I want to meet the public more through the opportunity I have been given. I know how difficult it is for everyone living in this country. Those who see my acting. “I want to be a comfort to others and become an actor who can comfortably fit into people’s hearts. This is the ultimate reason and goal for me to act,”he said.

Reporter Kim Yeon-ju yeonjuk@tvreport.co.kr / Photo = Netflix, CL&Company